A Second Chance
by Rikaruru
Summary: 100 Trainers put their souls on the line against each other for a second chance to live. What could one expect to happen in the life after death? Anything. Taking OC's.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.**

0-0-0-0-0**  
**

"Someone's going to die! Again!" a man shouted from his desk. It was a blank room, white and gray all around. It was almost like it was on a different plane.

"M-Mr. Stride! What's wrong?" a girl shouted, almost appearing out of nowhere as she ran towards the desk in attendance.

"This game...who authorized it?" he shouted. He took a few deep breaths as he calmed down. "Also, Annie, I believe I asked you to call me by my first name."

"S-Sorry Mr. Str-" she paused herself mid-sentence. "Mr. Lane. My apologies."

"It's fine. Just...stop being so formal. I heard the stories of the last Throne in charge here. He ran things real strict, right?" Lane said as he kicked his feet up on the desk.

"Y-Yes sir..." she sighed, remembering the terrible year while that man, who would never be brought up again as long as she and anyone else who worked in Jubilife's continuum plain had anything to say about it.

"Ok, let me be a bit more calm this time," he smirked. "Why is Second Chance about to be played tomorrow without my prior knowledge?"

"I've got the report right here sir!" she said as she placed the folder on the desk.

"Let's see...what?" he started to lose his temper again. "One-hundred? This game's going to be run with one-hundred Players?

"The Player pool was sent directly from the Cherubim," Annie said.

"Ugh...this is a problem. Second Chance...it's a game where those with strong souls are given chance at life again, hence the name Second Chance."

"However, it's usually only run with about twenty-five people," Annie continued.

"The purpose of the game is to find those with exceptionally strong souls. The type of people who shouldn't have died and the type of people who could benefit society. We usually only run Second Chance every few weeks, but..."

"Why is the Cherubim, the highest authority on Sinnoh's continuum planes forcing us to hold a game last minute with over one-hundred people...?"

"Annie, round up the staff, we're going to start organizing the week."

"Y-Yes sir-"

"Lane!"

"Y-Yes Lane."

0-0-0-0-0

**Here we go again. I remember posting the original "Second Chance" a little over half a year ago and getting a lot of positive feedback at the idea. Well, I'm less busy, a better writer, and most importantly, a better organizer (I know it says 100 in the summary, but I definitely didn't expect it to get that high). Second Chance is back and I promise to finish it this time. You have full permission to beat me up (verbally D:) if I'm slow to update as well. **

**Moving right along, let's talk about what everyone actually cares about. OC's.**

**Ground Rules**

**I am only taking forms via PM. The form is on my profile.**

**Please only send in one OC.**

**If you do not follow the form, I will not accept your OC. **

**It's encouraged, but not necessary, to write a review if you send in an OC. **

**I will not take low quality Mary Sue/Gary Stu's. **

**On that note, I will be happy to include as many great characters as I get, regardless of if you wrote a review, if I know you, etc.**

**Kinda harsh, I think, but a lot of this is done to lower the amount of paperwork with the OC's. Let's work together to make this as great of a story as we can! The life of a story, its characters, are in your hands once again, P****ok****émon community.**


	2. The Continuum Plane

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.**

**

* * *

**

"Am...I dead?" was the only thing that could be heard in the blank empty space around the man who was simply floating. He looked around as he regained consciousness. Nothing but a seemingly gray shade surrounded him. Suddenly, the man hit the floor as if gravity magically appeared. The floor must have magically appeared too, reasoned the man. Not that anything was bound to make sense when he was dead.

"Welcome to the Continuum Plane."

The man looked up from the floors to see a blonde haired girl wearing a black trench coat with multiple white designs and stripes adorning it. The clothes under that consisted of a dress shirt and black dress pants. She was sitting at a desk, nothing on top of it, save for a black folder.

"W-Where am I," the man decided to ask as his first question.

"I believe I already told you, but I suppose I can be more specific," the girl responded. "Oh! But where are my manners! My name is August. Pleased to meet you," she smiled from behind the table.

"N-Nice to meet you," the man replied, a bit taken back by how casual and strange the girl in front of him was. "My name is-"

"Ruben March. Age: twenty-one. Hometown is Canalave," August interrupted, reading the papers from the folder she had just opened.

"Y-Yeah, pretty much," Ruben stuttered. Normally, he was a pretty collected, but this was just a bit too weird for his liking.

"Hm...let's see...cause of death...oh my. How tragic. I've seen worse, however," she nonchalantly started musing aloud as she read the papers in her hands. "The girl here before you endured four months of torture before finally being mercifully killed, in a very non-merciful way, might I add. I bet she wishes she'd drowned like you did."

"Can I ask a question no-"

"Nope," August chirped kindly.

Ruben just gave a blank stare, feeling a mix of wonder, amusement, and annoyance.

"I will tell you everything you need to know," August smiled as she packed all of the papers back into the folder, sealed it, and threw it behind her without even turning around. Ruben watched in wonder as the folder simply faded away before it hit the ground.

"Did that folder just-"

"Disappear? Totally. I love doing that!" she giggled. "This is a Continuum Plane. Many things happen that don't make sense."

"Just what is a Continuum Plane?" Ruben asked, noticing how often it was coming up.

"Do you know what a continuum is?" August answered with a question.

"I've heard the word, but I have no clue," Ruben shrugged.

"A continuum by it's simplest definition is a change in an object at the quantum level. However, here, we define a continuum as a change from one plane of reality to another," August stated in the simplest terms she could. "Do you follow?"

"I...think so? Continue, please," Ruben requested.

"We are currently on the Continuum Plane. This is the plane on which the change between life and death is supposed to occur. Occasionally, someone dies with in immense amount of potential. Potential is the reason we are here, you see,"

"Potential as in 'what a person could amount to?'"

"Precisely," August grinned, happy her guest understood her. "Not everyone's death is planned. We're here to directly influence that supposedly obvious fact of nature. The Continuum Plane's location, you could say, is between life and the afterlife."

"So I'm not dead?" Ruben asked, getting a bit excited.

"Of course you are. Who would be alive after plummeting in what was one Sinnoh's fiercest storms of the year? Not to mention you were hit and dragged down by the heavy cargo on that ship that went down with you," August stated bluntly.

Ruben just gave a deadpan stare. He was more disturbed by the girl's bluntness than the detailed description of his death.

"You simply haven't passed on," August elaborated. She looked down at the watch on her wrist. "We're getting distracted and I have at least forty more people to talk to. Let's get to the point."

"What about that potential thing you were talking about?"

"I'll tie that into my next point," August answered. "Our job is to find those with potential. Potential is easily measured by the strength that a soul is released from it's body. At that time, the persons emotions are usually at it's peak. We retrieve these people and offer them a second chance."

"A second chance..? What do you mean?" Ruben asked. "Wait...you couldn't mean-"

"Yes. A second chance at life. The 'game' is actually titled 'Second Chance.' Proper noun, capital letters, uncreative, yada yada," August went on, twirling a lock of her hair.

Although August seemed bored, Ruben's mind was racing. A second chance at life? He could return to his life at sea! But even more importantly, he could be the woman he wanted to spend his life with. He had never gotten the chance to propose to her, let alone say goodbye. Those had been his last thoughts as he died; he would give anything for a chance to change that.

"I'm in," Ruben said proudly and confidently.

August smiled again as she held her hand up, a piece of paper materializing into her hand along with a pen. She motioned for Ruben to take the paper, which he did rather eagerly.

"Please take a seat and read the contract," August stated in a much more serious tone than before.

Ruben turned around to see an plain chair behind him, which, like everything else, appeared out of nowhere. Not spending too much time pondering the physics of the moment, he started to read the contract. He gave a surprised look as he read through. In less then half a minute, he looked back up to August.

""I hereby give possession of my soul to the continuum plane of Sinnoh for the duration of Second Chance. I agree to the terms of failure, in which my "death" will result in the permanent loss of my soul. I swear to uphold the rules that have been set in place and I accept the responsibility for any and all choices I make. I accept this fate and make this choice of my own free will," August read off exactly what was in Ruben's hands, obviously having it committed to her memory.. "It's short and to the point. Do you accept these terms?"

"My soul will be permanently lost...what does that mean?" Ruben asked with a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"You thought this would be easy?" August responded in a much more serious tone then before. "Many of the phases in Second Chance could involve a second death.. If you die while you're dead, then your soul is forfeit. Think about it this way. Your body releases your soul when you die. What happens when your soul dies? It doesn't 'die.' You are simply erased.

"I think I understand. Tell me, how many of people have won Second Chance?"

"First of all, Second Chance has been around for longer than you could imagine. In the few years that I've been here, I would say that the number of people that win averages out to be something like 0.4; about one every two games. There are about forty people in two games."

"W-Wait! You're saying that only one person wins every two games?" Ruben exclaimed.

"Yes," August responded simply. "Are you thinking of backing off? You could always move on. You wouldn't be the only one."

Ruben thought hard about the choice he had to make.

"I make this choice of my own free will...," he murmured as he grabbed the pen and wrote in his name. Perhaps he would be one of those rare cases.

No. There wasn't going to be a "perhaps" about it. He _would_ be one of the rare cases.

"Thank you, Mr. March. Very nice last name, by the way," August smiled, trying to lessen the tension in the room. "You will be summoned when the orientation for the game begins."

Ruben held his head down in thought as he noticed himself fade away, most likely to return at the time of the 'orientation.'

"Have a good day, Miss August," he smiled sweetly right before he faded away.

August looked down at the desk as he disappeared. "I'll find a way to make that number higher...for people with lives and hopes like yours Ruben," she whispered quietly. "Annie! Player 060 is accounted for. The Player has signed the contract."

She sighed as she could sense the next potential player entering the isolated part of the Continuum Plane. It was a long day only bound to be the slow start of a long and dreadful week. She'd change things, though. Now would be her only chance.

* * *

"Wow. Not a single one of you wimped out. I'm impressed."

Felice's head was throbbing as she regained consciousness. As she got up on all fours, she opened her eyes to see the same dull gray floor she was standing on before. This time was different, however, as she looked up and saw a multitude of other people starting to get up.

"This should be an interesting game," An unknown voice said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Those who hadn't caught sight of him already turned to look at the man. Several gasps came from the large group of people. The man in front of them had same type of black and white trench coat jacket as August did. August, in fact, was next to the man. The part that everyone was focused on, however, were the wings adorned on both persons' backs.

"My name is Lane Strider, the current Throne presiding over Sinnoh's portion of the Continuum Plane," the unknown man said. He had six black wings extending from his back. Felice figured that if Lane held his arm out straight, the wing would extend at least another foot from the tip of his fingers.

"All of you have signed the contract binding you to playing Second Chance," Lane said as he broke Felice's chain of thought. "Now is your last chance to back out and move on to a higher plane."

Silence.

"This is awesome!" Lane laughed while everyone else remained serious. "There's a few things you should know before the game starts. I'll let August here explain."

"Thank you Mr. Strider," August said as she floated a few feet in front of Lane. August had four wings. Unlike Lane's however, they were almost pure white. Behind her, Lane facepalmed, getting tired of being called 'Mr. Strider.' He'd hold his tongue...this time.

"I am the current Game Master over this session of Second Chance," she started, immediately setting off murmurs in the crowd. Most of the people remembered her lack of seriousness at the worst times. "Second Chance as only one winning criteria. You must survive one week. In that one week, you will be given missions to complete. Failing these missions will result in erasure."

Felice noticed the man next to her about to protest, and quickly thumped him in the side. The man gave an angry look but settled down.

"Second Chance has taken place in many different cities, but we always keep it the same city throughout the week. This week, the game will take place in Jubilife City."

Several people in the crowd smiled wide, thinking about their hometown.

"Do not, however, think that you can just run," she added, "You are still on the Continuum Plane. Although you can see people, they cannot see you and you cannot interact with them. It's as if you're a ghost."

The group mentioned above immediately deflated emotionally.

"Now, you will be given two things," August said as she held her hand up, materializing a watch. It wasn't just any kind of watch, however.

"A Pokétch?" Felice whispered.

"This is a Pokétch. Many of you Trainers in Sinnoh are familiar with this, yes? This one is special, however. You will see what I mean once the game starts," August said as she threw the watch up, letting it fade and disappear. "Now, for the actual important part."

Lane floated back up front, taking out a steel ball about the size of a Poké Ball in it's miniature form. "I'm sure you all miss your Pokemon, correct? When I was alive, I owned a Rhyperior. Of course, he didn't die with me. He still lived on in my soul, however."

Finishing his speech, Lane held the ball above his head and crushed it. When it was crushed, however, it erupted into shards of blue. As the shards disappeared, something else started to form. A Rhyperior materialized in front of everyone below Lane, causing a near deathly silence.

"Your feelings for your Pokémon are an extension of your soul. This will be your main tool during the week. We call these Soul Balls," he explained. "You cannot summon everyone Pokémon you own with these, obviously. Most people couldn't summon one. You all, however, are only here because of the immense power your soul contains. You'll all be able to summon your soul's reflection of your closest Pokémon."

Felice nearly wanted to cry right there. Her best friend was her Pokémon, and although it wasn't technically Alto, having her Altaria with her at least in literal spirit would make things much easier.

"There is one last thing we would like to explain before you are dismissed," August said, getting everyone's attention. "We would like to explain who we are and our role in Second Chance. Collectively, we are beings known as Arch. No, we aren't angels."

Felice sighed. That was one theory down.

"A normal Arch will have two wings, while higher officials will have more," she explained. "You will see many Arch throughout the week of a normal rank. They have no title. One step higher from an Arch is a Power. They're pretty much a slightly more important Arch. Does everyone follow so far? You'll regret not listening~" she sing-songed the last sentence. "Any ranking officer is titled as a Virtue. The session Game Master, or GM, is temporarily promoted one step higher to a Dominion, although no one really ever calls us that. We're normally just referred to as the GM."

"You're losing their attention, August," Lane yawned.

"H-How mean!" August turned around and pouted before turning back to us. "You'll need this info eventually, so keep it in mind!"

"I think that about wraps things up here," Lane said. "The next time you wake up, the game will be on. I hope to meet you all again, although the chances are slim."

"Good luck!" August shouted to the crowd with a wink. Ironically, as she closed her eye, Felice felt her eyes close in sync as she lost consciousness once again.

August looked out to the group, fainting and fading one by one as Lane faded out, headed back to his office. "If only I could just make the missions as easy as possible..." August sighed. "I promise I'll find a way around this..."

* * *

**If anyone reading this has noticed yet, I draw major inspiration for this story from the game "The World Ends With You." Great game, probably the best RPG on the DS excluding Pok****é****mon.**

**Major thanks to Elkitty for being my beta this chapter! Leave your thoughts and any suggestions in a review. Keep sending in OCs!**

**Credits:**

**Ruben March – Elkitty**

**Felice Canzone - Accord of the Wind**

**Mizuki Kimura (small mention) - Kyogreperson**


End file.
